Baby carriages

[pip]

I have been visiting Vegas about an average of once a year for 30 plus years. Not enough to be any kind of expert on Vegas, but enough so I get a regular periodic snapshot of the gradually changing landscape. And the change I sensed this year staying at The Encore was that for the first time I could remember, baby carriages were playing a major role in trying to navigate through the crowds.

Knots of people at intersections of major aisles or near the guest room elevators have never been easy to work through, but this year they seemed to become impossibly dense. This was because for each crowded area there were usually 3 or 4 baby carriages being maneuvered around within the throngs of people, forcing more than the usual number of vacationers to stop dead in their tracks until they were sure they wouldn't collide with the babies. Many of the carriages were double-baby carriages!

I was staying at the Encore from December 24-28, so maybe that was a factor, and maybe what I experienced was just my mistaken impression or an anomaly. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon?

 

[jmiller31]

Interesting, we go about 2-3 times a year and I can honestly say I've never noticed that as being a problem. Here's a random theory about what you experienced. Encore is very upscale and certainly not what I would consider a big party hotel. It's possible that given the time of the year families that wanted to go to Vegas and were willing to pay the premium may choose Encore as a "safe" alternative to the more crowded upscale resorts like Bellagio or Aria.

We've been staying at Aria pretty solidly for the past 3 years and I honestly can't remember seeing any strollers and very few kids.

 

[smerrian]

If you're dealing with strollers then your destination should be Disney World. Las Vegas is an adult destination. And as we all know, if the kids are bored they'll make your vacation suck.

 

[phantomfj]

Last trip I saw more pampered dogs in baby carriages than babies!

 

[-(J)-]

I remember hearing tales of Steve Wynn walking through Bellagio (his at the time) when some woman ran into him with a stroller.

The worst I've seen it with kids/babies is at Mandalay Bay in the summer. I don;t think Encore or Wynn could be any worse than MB.

 

[Multifarious5]

Before ever staying at cosmo two years ago, we were walking, and a pushy couple with a double stroller monopolized the entire walkway...and were pushy/entitled about it. (Gave dirty looks to everyone, despite hogging the entire walkway and walking slower than dinosaurs.)

But we're now going on our third trip to cosmo and love it...all stroller drama is water under the bridge.

I don't personally get the "strollers in Vegas" phenomenon, but it seems like it happening more versus less. I still think it's weird...especially how pushy /rude stroller-ites can be!

 

[dmr]

Last trip I saw more pampered dogs in baby carriages than babies!

For some reason we always see lots of people with dogs at Caesars over the holidays. I haven't figured it out. You don't seem to see as many in other casinos.

 

[BarelyHangingOn]

I was staying at the Encore from December 24-28, so maybe that was a factor, and maybe what I experienced was just my mistaken impression or an anomaly. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon?

Was there Dec 8th - 12 th and this was our third year in a row same time.

Wife and I noticed that they really did the Christmas thing this year compared to the past in terms of decorations and playing Christmas music in the casinos.

We could not get over the amount of kids, baby strollers and preggos this trip. I was sitting in the Mirage playing bubble craps and it was a little smokey and there is some guy with a baby in a stroller and three kids tethered to it just kind of standing there and then walking through.Why would you strolling your baby up Fremont St at 11:00 at night? Or the preggo lady standing at a slot machine in foggy old Harrahs at night.

I said in my trip report that De Niro at the end of Casino nailed it. Vegas is becoming Disney Land.

The town will never be the same. After the Tangiers, the big corporations took it all over. Today it looks like Disneyland. And while the kids play cardboard pirates, Mommy and Daddy drop the house payments and Junior's college money on the poker slots. In the old days, dealers knew your name, what you drank, what you played. Today, it's like checkin' into an airport. And if you order room service, you're lucky if you get it by Thursday. Today, it's all gone. You get a whale show up with four million in a suitcase, and some twenty-five-year-old hotel school kid is gonna want his Social Security Number.

 

[deansrobinson]

Crotchety Old Man OP/ED: Having never had churens - but the Mrs. logging >30 years teaching - we just don't see LV as a destination for kids. Maybe if we had kids, we'd see what these parents see. The 'we have a baby so we're special' attitude does indeed exist. Undeniable. Seen it too many times. But I suspect it may be a factor of not facing deferred gratification. For example, would you postpone a vacation - or pick a different venue - if you're indeed factoring in / weighted value of kids? Or do mom and dad wanna go to Vegas and just bring the kids along anyway? Would the kids rather go to Dizzyland (pronounced Parental Re-education Camp) whereas Dad wants to go to Caesars? Are kids in stroller-age really cognizant of anything? Are they getting anything from Vegas or is it simply a better optic to bring the kids rather than leave them with granny and grand-pop for a week? There's a lot of jokes I don't get...and lugging a kid through Vegas (or the Seminole Hard Rock down here) is one of them.

 

[ken2v]

I just don't see it as being this open/shut. Sure, the mainstream Vegas ethic of sanitized vice is antithetical to the whole kid thing, but it ALL is in how the parents orchestrate it. Our neighbors are awesome parents, they take the kid (9) to Disneyland and Universal and Knott's and the beach and the mountains ... and Vegas, all with some regularity. They stay mostly but not exclusively off Strip -- they avoid Downandouttown -- do movies and the arcade and the outdoorsy stuff, and mom and dad rotate casino time. They don't get in the way of others, they certainly don't detract from others doing Vegas the "right way." Correct me if I'm wrong but I'd guess hundreds of thousands of kids actually live in Vegas, no?

 

[pip]

It was spanning Christmas, which means the people who were there were somewhat like me, in that they didn't really care that much about the traditional family Christmas celebration at home. Many of the vacationers appeared to be Persian or Indian or Asian, which would go along with not being worried about traditional Christmas. And the thing about staying there during that period is the room rates are relatively low ($700 for 4 nights, with $150 in dining credits). I thought maybe Steve Wynn might have been trying to compensate for low usage rates during that period by making special offers geared toward potential customers looking for a deal who didn't mind being away from home during Christmas.

Most of the stroller-folks seemed more "it is what is" more than militant, though there was one athletic-looking lady with a double stroller that she clearly thought was a battering ram outside the guest room elevators. Luckily I'm still quick enough so that she missed me...

 

[Richard Alpert]

Strollers have been abundant on our last few trips, but not really a problem.
Strollers are still far below selfie-sticks on my Vegas nuisance list.
Unless the folks are trying to get the stroller in their selfie shot!

RICHARD

 

[Sonya]

I think the most kids I've ever seen in Vegas was one Christmas weekend in the early 2000's. We were there on Xmas Eve and families were pouring into the hotel. It's possible that lots of families in town for the holiday skewed your numbers a bit.

For some reason we always see lots of people with dogs at Caesars over the holidays.

CET properties allow pets in some rooms. Not sure if it's all of their hotels, but many of them market their "pet friendly" rooms.

 

[sporty8705]

I know that most Harrahs had started pet stay rooms, and now our local Harrahs SD took away pet stay rooms now, not sure if its being phased out now or if it was just ours.

Also, I went to Vegas with my then 5 month old several times a year until recently. We went a whole year in between visits, but I took him last in August of 2016 and we stayed at Westgate, visited kid friendly places and had fun. Now, I have a 6 month old and I am pregnant, and hubby says we will not go again until the youngest is about 1-2.. I have no problem visiting Vegas with my little kids, but I need to stay home to save up, kids are pricey, and for some reason all my comps dried up.

 

[mdee]

Didn't think they were allowed!

 

[dmr]

I know that in a few of the biggies (Wynn seems to come to mind) strollers are permitted only for hotel guests.

I also think of Sams Town as being at least somewhat family friendly but multiple times I've seen their security people very assertively tell guests to keep their kids "in the aisle, between the black lines" in the casino.